Editor’s note: This story is part of our “Today in History” series, where The Haitian Times revisits pivotal moments that shaped Haiti and its diaspora.
On Sept. 15, 1994, President Bill Clinton delivered a stark warning to Haiti’s military rulers: step down or face a U.S.-led invasion.
In a televised address from the White House, Clinton announced that the United States was prepared to use force to restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been ousted in a 1991 coup led by Gen. Raoul Cédras. Clinton told Americans that diplomacy had failed and that military action was now imminent unless Haiti’s junta relinquished power.
The speech came after years of international sanctions and failed negotiations. Clinton framed the intervention as both a defense of democracy in the Caribbean and a necessary step to end the violence and repression that had driven tens of thousands of Haitians to flee by boat toward U.S. shores.
Just days later, a delegation led by former President Jimmy Carter, Sen. Sam Nunn, and Gen. Colin Powell traveled to Port-au-Prince to negotiate a last-minute agreement. Their talks averted bloodshed, and U.S. forces entered Haiti on Sept. 19 without combat, overseeing the peaceful departure of Cédras and the return of Aristide the following month.
(16 Sep 1994) In a televised speech to the nation on Thursday night (15/9), U.S. President Bill Clinton had two goals — persuading Haiti’s military rulers to leave power and rallying Americans around his policy toward the Caribbean country.Clinton’s warning and the subsequent intervention underscored the deep entanglement of U.S. policy in Haiti’s fragile democracy—a relationship that continues to shape both nations today.
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Via Haitian Times
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